Intel to Launch Web TV Service This Year

DANA POINT, Calif.—Intel Corp. confirmed plans to offer a paid Internet video service and accompanying set-top box, an unusual gamble for a chip maker that has rarely marketed directly to consumers.

The Silicon Valley company said the service will be introduced later this year. It didn't disclose the name of the offering—which will carry a new brand separate from Intel's—nor its pricing.

ENLARGE

Erik Hugger

The chip giant wants you to tune in to its service. Is it worth it? Erik Huggers joined Peter Kafka and Walt Mossberg onstage today at the D: Dive Into Media conference.

Intel's Erik Huggers took the stage with Walt Mossberg at D: Dive Into Media on Tuesday to talk about the company's forthcoming TV device that he describes as revolutionary.

Intel joins an array of companies attempting or considering ways to help transform the TV-watching experience; they include media firms as well as technology players such as Apple Inc.,Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. Intel discussed its plans at the D: Dive Into Media conference here.

Intel plans to offer a selection of live and on-demand TV programming, "catch-up" features and a programming interface that makes it much easier to find shows than with existing guides on set-top boxes from cable and satellite companies, said Erik Huggers, who heads a new group at the company called Intel Media.

But there will be several unique elements, he said.

For one thing, the set-top box the company plans to offer—which will be powered by Intel chips—will include a high-definition video camera and microphone that will enable several novel applications.

For example, Mr. Huggers said, the camera and facial-recognition technology will be able to identify who is watching the TV and tailor programming appropriately—such as blocking children in a household from watching adult TV shows. Families in multiple locations will also be able to conduct videoconferencing more easily, without laptop computers or tablets that can only easily show one face at a time, he said.

In another scenario, Mr. Huggers said, users could see each other in different locations while watching and commenting on the same show, a modern-day analog to the days families once congregated around the TV set. For those concerned about privacy, a shutter will allow users to make the camera inoperable, he said.

"I think we can bring an incredible experience," Mr. Huggers said.

Intel faces no shortage of skepticism. For one thing, like other companies entering the field, it must negotiate with content companies for rights to TV programing. Mr. Huggers said such negotiations are in process, but provided no details.

The company also isn't expecting, at least initially, to be able to side-step one of users' biggest complaints about cable-TV packages—that users have to take "bundles" of shows, some of which they might not want. Mr. Huggers said content companies are "not ready" for offering pure a la carte programming, but Intel expects to be able to offer "more intelligent" or "more convenient" selections of shows.

Intel's Erik Huggers took the stage with Walt Mossberg at D: Dive Into Media on Tuesday to talk about the company's forthcoming TV device that he describes as revolutionary.

In addition, Intel isn't expecting that its services will necessarily be less expensive than cable bills today, but the experience will be much better. "It's not a value play," Mr. Huggers said.

If Intel's service and set-top device can boost demand for video services, there is little reason that content companies shouldn't embrace it, said Paul Zwillenberg, a London-based partner at Boston Consulting Group who works with media and technology companies. "I think it's only good for the industry," he said.

Intel, of course, mainly sells chips to computer makers rather than market them to end users. But Mr. Huggers—who previously worked at British Broadcasting Corp., and helped it launch a high-profile service called iPlayer—said Intel Media has hired a team of veteran digital-TV specialists and is being operated as a largely separate unit with offices apart from the rest of Intel. He noted that Microsoft did much the same thing, and successfully, when entering the videogame console market with Xbox.

As for the reception from content companies, Mr. Huggers noted they were approached before his group conceived the service and had input on its features—rather than being consulted after the fact. "We have been working hand in glove with the industry to figure this out," he said in an interview.

D: Dive Into Media is an event organized by All Things D, a unit of Wall Street Journal parent News Corp.

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